Heider, a junior offensive lineman at Texas Tech, finished the 1999 season as a part-time player at right tackle before his world was rocked this spring in a whirlwind span of a week and a half.

Consider the chain of events: Under new football offensive line coach Robert Anae, Heider started the spring as a backup guard and center. Seven practices later, he has played three positions in seven practices, including right guard, center and first-team left guard.

''I like it,'' said Heider, who seems to have found his home at left guard. ''It's been fun. It's a lot more physical on the inside. Last year at tackle, it was more finesse and you couldn't really get in people's face. Now it's right up close and in color, getting in people's faces every snap.''

According to Anae, who likes to test his players at different positions, it's all been part of a master scheme in which several players have switched spots and learned the new blocking techniques for the pass-based offense of the future.

Besides Heider (6-foot-5, 310 pounds), two other players have moved positions on the latest first-team line at Tech: sophomore J.J. Williams and junior Paul Erickson (6-5, 284). Williams (6-6, 277) has moved from tackle to right guard, giving Tech a bigger interior line comprising him, Heider and returning starting center Kyle Sanders (6-2, 305). Erickson, who started two games last season at right tackle, has emerged as the starter to beat this spring at left tackle in place of departed former starter Jonathan Gray.

''I'm still trying to find out which players are best at which spots,'' said Anae, a mad scientist of sorts this spring. ''The guard spots are wait-and-see. For the most part, the players have picked it up well. The fundamentals will just take some time for them to develop.''

It's just a matter of constant repetition, according to the players. Compared to last year's run-based blocking schemes, this year's pass-based schemes are ''a whole lot simpler,'' Heider said.

In layman's terms, this is the biggest difference from the standpoint of technique: Instead of charging forward on a run block, the linemen are usually taking a few steps back into the pocket in a pass set.

From a standpoint of alignment, the biggest difference has been moving the bigger players to the middle three positions and the quicker, smaller players to the tackles. Last year, it was just the opposite.

''It's simple,'' said Rex Richards, the sophomore returning starter at right tackle. ''I've got it all memorized already, and I'm not the smartest guy in the world, so that should tell you something. When you step back, you can see everything better, and it gives you more time to react.''

Under last year's system, which ran the ball on 64 percent of its plays, there was more confusion about what was going to happen on a given play, according to Heider. Part of that may explain the relative up-and-down performance of the line last year, when the success of the team often seemed to be dictated by its blocking up front. In last year's game against Oklahoma State, for example, Tech allowed 16 tackles for losses and lost, 41-21. One week later, Tech registered its third no-sack game since 1997 and beat Colorado, 31-10. Two weeks after that, Tech allowed six sacks and 11 tackles for losses against Missouri before getting blown out of Columbia, 34-7.

''Everything is broken down for us in our pass-blocking scheme,'' Heider said. ''There's far, far less confusion than there has been in the past. For example, without giving anything away, the center makes most of the calls. He's in charge of how we're going to do things. Whatever the center says goes. Before, there was more gray area. Now there's very little gray area about what we're doing."

Brent Schrotenboer can be reached at 766-8733 or at bschrotenboer@lubbockonline.com